It flies at up to 10 times the speed of sound, or approximately 7,200 mph at sea level.

NASA is where the information was obtained.

The work started in 1996 I would not be surprised if a full scale aircraft had been built and tested by now. This could account for some of the unexplained sightings and sounds which have been reported many times by some kind of aircraft operating over the Western coast of California.

It uses a “air-breathing” engine technologies that promise to increase payload capacity or reduce vehicle size for the same payload for future hypersonic aircraft and/or reusable space launch vehicles. The vehicle flies at many times the speed of sound. Hydrogen will fuel the program’s research vehicles, but it requires oxygen from the atmosphere to burn.

The Hyper-X Phase I is a NASA Aeronautics and Space Transportation Technology Enterprise program being conducted jointly by the Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Langley is the lead center and is responsible for hypersonic technology development. Dryden is responsible for flight research.

The HyperSoar is a B-52 sized hypersonic bomber/recon aircraft concept under investigation by US DoE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and University of Maryland. If developed, it would have the capability to take-off from the US and deliver its goods anywhere in the world in a couple of hours without refueling. It’s speed (Mach 10) and altitude will make it near impossible to track it, much less bring it down. It’s chief designer is Preston Carter

Fully funded by Boeing, the Bird of Prey project costs $67 million. A subsonic, single-seat technology demonstrator, the aircraft completed 38 test flights as part of its flight-demonstration program. Its first flight took place in fall 1996. Bird of Prey has a wingspan of approximately 23 feet and a length of 47 feet, and weighs nearly 7,400 pounds. Powered by a Pratt & Whitney JT15D-5C turbofan engine, the Bird of Prey has an operational speed of 260 knots and a maximum operating altitude of 20,000 feet.

Also Boeing, the world’s largest aircraft manufacturer, has admitted that it is working on experimental anti-gravity projects that could overturn a century of conventional aerospace propulsion technology if the science that underpins them – science that senior Boeing officials describe as “valid” – can be engineered into hardware. As part of the effort, which is being run out of Boeing’s Phantom Works advanced research and development facility in Seattle, the company is trying to solicit the services of a Russian scientist who claims he has developed ‘high-‘ and ‘low-power’ anti-gravity devices in Russia and Finland. The approach, however, has been thwarted by Russian officialdom.

The Boeing drive to develop a collaborative relationship with the scientist in question, Dr Evgeny Podkletnov, has its own internal project name: ‘GRASP’ – Gravity Research for Advanced Space Propulsion.

A briefing document on GRASP obtained by Jane’s Defence Weekly sets out what Boeing believes to be at stake. “If gravity modification is real,” it says, “it will alter the entire aerospace business.” The report was written by Jamie Childress, principal investigator for Boeing’s propellentless propulsion work at the Phantom Works in Seattle.

GRASP’s objective is to explore propellentless propulsion (the aerospace world’s more formal term for anti-gravity), determine the validity of Podkletnov’s work and “examine possible uses for such a technology”. Applications, the company says, could include space launch systems, artificial gravity on spacecraft, aircraft propulsion and ‘fuelless’ electricity generation – so-called ‘free energy’.

Laser Weapons———-Laser Weapons——-Laser Weapons———-Laser Weapons

The mobile Tactical High Energy Laser, or THEL, weapon system would provide an innovative solution for the acquisition and close-in engagement problems associated with “dumb munitions” — a primary concern because counter-battery fire may not be an option in densely populated areas. A THEL will be able to fire with speed-of-light flyout for close-in engagements where time lines are very short. Cost will run only a few thousand dollars per kill or less, with a deep magazine to counter saturation attacks. Not only can a THEL weapon system destroy a target, but it can also degrade, disrupt, or damage. This enhances operational flexibility and effectiveness against a wide variety of air threats. A THEL system would enhance the effectiveness of the short- to medium-range